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Author Notes: This recipe puts me in the mood for winter. Pears, poached with orange and spices, are both incorporated into the batter & used as decoration. Aromas of mulled wine, chocolate and raspberry fill the kitchen, making is difficult to resist pulling them out of the oven too early! Do your best to resist- vegan muffins require a slightly longer cooking time than conventional ones.
Prep for these muffins is a little fussier than usual. But then, these aren’t your average muffins. They’re more decadent, and perfect for the holidays.

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full with batter. Spoon a heaping spoonful of jam on top of each one and use a chopstick to swirl it through the batter a few times. Lay pear slices on top (about 5 per muffin) and sprinkle tops with sugar.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes, stopping halfway to rotate pan.

Remove muffins from oven when a tester comes out clean and cool for 10 minutes. Invert muffins in their tins to finish cooling.

Poached Pears

2 pears- peeled, halved and cored

1 cup red wine

1 orange, outer peel and juice

2 cinnamon sticks

6 cloves

1/4 cup sugar

Add all ingredients to a pot and cover surface with a parchment circle. Simmer all ingredients over low heat for approximately 30 minutes, until liquid has reduced and pears are tender but not falling apart. You may want to flip the pears halfway for even cooking.

Remove pears and place in refrigerator to cool. Strain remaining solids from poaching liquid and discard. There should be about 1/2 cup of liquid. (If there is extra, use all and compensate by reducing the milk in the muffin recipe, conversely, if there is less, add more milk.)

When pears are cooled, cut off top knobs so that each half is domed shape. Cut the domes into thin slices and reserve for decoration. Dice the knobs to be added to the batter.